Put Recovery First

We must put recovery first.

The pandemic has torn through our lives. Thousands of people died or suffered serious illness. Young people lost out on education and career opportunities. People waited longer for hospital treatment. Individuals suffered isolation. Businesses struggled to pay their bills.

We owe it to them to put recovery first.

Other parties will prioritise an independence referendum.

Instead, Liberal Democrats will have a needle-sharp focus on jobs, mental We will give urgent support to high streets health, our NHS, schools and the climate and hospitality businesses in their hour of crisis. need. We will build up new, green industries of the future. We will give new Our offer is a liberal one. At our heart we training grants to help people change want every individual to achieve their career if they need to. We will provide potential. graduates with paid internships in small businesses. We will repair the damage to our economy, communities and public We won’t risk destroying trade with the services. rest of the UK through an independence referendum, and we will keep close ties We will value the experience of frontline with our European neighbours for the workers. We will listen to them and help benefit of business. them lead us to recovery. We will take new steps to tackle the We will help education bounce back. That climate emergency and have a greener, will mean: more in-class support for healthier future. We are trustees of our children who need it to reach their full world and must pass on a sustainable potential; a guaranteed job for every legacy which will benefit future teacher to cut class sizes; new work with generations. We will create a million warm teachers to raise literacy and numeracy homes with zero emissions in the next standards. ten years. We will switch transport to We will tackle the health crisis. We will electric power. We will restore nature. recruit more mental health professionals We will make sure Scotland is an to work in communities, hospitals and attractive place to live and work for schools. We will set up new diagnosis and people who come from the rest of the UK, treatment centres to catch up with the the EU and elsewhere. backlog.

While Liberal Democrats will put recovery The Scottish Government missed the first, the SNP will put independence first. opportunity last summer to prepare for the second wave of the virus. Testing was No matter what your view on neglected and quarantine checks were independence, most people will surely slack. We must do better as we approach think that the wake of a terrible pandemic this summer. is not the moment for that. Now is not the moment to carry on the poisonous and We will establish the public inquiry that bitter battle between the SNP and the will look at the handling of the pandemic Conservatives and between the various and consider the decisions taken by the factions of the nationalist movement, two governments. which is dragging Scotland down. We all need to come together to recover from The priority is to get the job done not the worst health and economic crisis in distract ourselves with talk of pointless 100 years. We can’t afford to return to the and expensive vaccine passports which arguments of the past. will divide people, limit the opportunities of young people and take up time that People desperate for work, patients in our could be spent on recovery. NHS and pupils in our schools can’t be left to wait as politicians return to arguments Put recovery first. over independence. People are desperate for a parliament that puts our differences on independence to one side and puts recovery first.

The newly elected parliament should press on with the vaccination roll-out, Willie Rennie opening up our lives when it is safe to do Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats so. We should use our testing capacity to keep people safe while the roll-out continues.

In every chapter we set out how we will

put recovery first. We show how the pandemic has affected our lives and what needs to be done for recovery.

There is a green thread running through this manifesto. Every chapter includes marked proposals that will tackle the

climate emergency.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 2 We want every individual to • A national effort to improve wellbeing achieve their potential P5 based on people’s lived experiences to tackle the barriers to good health. • An urgent programme to help children bounce back in education. Business and employment P18

• Play based education until age 7 to • A job guarantee for 16-24 year olds. give our children a flying start, based • 2,000 paid graduate internships with on the Nordic model. small businesses. • More childcare from the age of 2. • New £5,000 Scottish Training Bonds • More in-class support to help every to help people change careers. child reach their potential. • Scotland to be the most diverse • Every qualified teacher guaranteed a business culture in Europe. job, to cut class sizes. • Scottish workers given the best • Serving teachers put at the heart of chance to manufacture offshore wind the SQA and Education Scotland. turbines.

• Review of workloads and career • Increase the range of jobs and careers opportunities for teachers, and a available to people in rural areas. minimum starting salary of £30,000. • New support for arts performances in • Build Scotland’s reputation as the more communities than ever before. home of science. Transport P26 Good health, with restored health services P11 • Reopen railway lines and move away from fossil fuels on the network. • An urgent plan to put recovery first for • Give the public confidence in electric the NHS. vehicles by progress towards a • A bigger range of specialists, diagnosis network of well-maintained rapid and treatment in local communities. chargers.

• Train more mental health specialists • Support active travel, making it easier for community centres, hospitals, to make safe journeys by bike or on workplaces and schools. foot.

• Reduce the misery of drug abuse with • Create single through-tickets and compassion and health treatment swipe cards that work for buses, trains rather than prosecution. and ferries across Scotland.

• Promote preventative health to take • New local powers to integrate all the pressure off the NHS. forms of transport and to control local • National standards and fair pay for all bus services. social care staff.

3 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First Justice P29 • Build 60,000 affordable homes to help address homelessness. • Better support for police officers and civilian staff in their difficult jobs • Help to Renovate loans to bring especially where they plug the gaps in derelict homes back into use. other public services. • Develop a system of Universal Basic • Cut crime and improve rehabilitation Income to provide everyone with a services for people leaving prison so safety net. they are less likely to re-offend and • Guarantee respite for unpaid carers. cause more damage. Democracy P42 • Get more mental health support workers alongside the police. • Work at a UK level to reform the UK to • Give greater confidence to victims of a federal future. crime. • A new fiscal framework to ensure local • Increase the influence of communities councils get a fair share of the budget. over the way they are policed. • A new Contempt of Parliament rule, so • Reform Fatal Accident Inquiries to a minority government can’t ignore stop delays and learn the lessons Holyrood. more quickly. Liberty, liberalism and our place The climate emergency P33 in the world P47

• Move one million homes to zero • Establish a cross-party commission to emission heating by 2030. recommend urgent steps to prevent violence against women and girls in all • Invest in low carbon heat networks. its forms. • Double the programmes to end fuel • End the harmful practice of sexual poverty. orientation and gender identity • Invest in new skills for a just transition conversion therapy. from fossil fuel industry. • New pay audits to ensure fair • Make it easier to re-purpose town opportunities for people from ethnic centres and transport systems to fit minorities and disabled people. post-pandemic life. • Incorporate four United Nations • New national parks, and new human rights treaties into Scots law. woodlands close to where people live. • Support a close relationship with our Social justice, housing and European neighbours. communities P39

• Double the Scottish Child Payment to Managing the public finances to £20 per week to tackle child poverty. meet our ambitions P45

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 4 • Serving teachers put at the heart of We want every the SQA and Education Scotland. individual to achieve • Build Scotland’s reputation as the their potential home of science. A bounce back plan for Education is the essential investment that allows everyone to achieve their education potential. We know how hard the past year has We need to invest in the recovery and been. We need the talents of everyone we need to invest for the future. possible for recovery in education.

We have proposals for every stage and Our proposal is to help children and every age: to get a good start in life; to young people bounce back from the excel at school; and to help people retrain disruption to their education. We will if they need to later in life. make every hour of learning in school count for more rather than cram children The next Scottish Government must act into longer hours at their desks. We will urgently to give people the opportunities offer: and skills to build and rebuild from the A teacher job guarantee. No teacher pandemic. • should be unemployed or feel Education suffered even when it was the underemployed when the new school top priority of the SNP Government. We term begins in August. We need the can only imagine how neglected it would talents of everyone in the teaching get if they make it play second fiddle to a profession, so children get the most referendum. out of their time back in school. Every

qualified teacher should be • An urgent programme to help guaranteed a job. They will help with children bounce back in education. smaller class sizes, more one-on-one help, and additional support needs in • Play based education until age 7 to the classroom. give our children a flying start, based on the Nordic model. • New pupil support assistants to give • More childcare from the age of 2. more in-class support to children who need it. • More in-class support to help every child reach their potential. • An immediate term-time expansion of outdoor learning and increased • Every qualified teacher guaranteed provision of residential a job, to cut class sizes. outdoor education to engage children, boost mental health, through • Review of workloads and career experiences that can prove life- opportunities for teachers, and a changing and increase understanding minimum starting salary of of the climate emergency. £30,000.

5 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will start this longer statutory Early • New investment in local grassroots Years Phase as a series of voluntary pilots activities and sports with a Scottish and will use existing buildings. Government funded entitlement for children and young people to use We will continue to expand nursery over the holidays. education to meet the promise of 1140 hours for 3 and 4-year-olds and eligible 2- • A new programme of extra supported year-olds. This will provide the flexibility study for S4-S6, guided by the and choice that parents were promised, judgement of class teachers. These so families can passport their entitlement young people don't have years left in in order to suit their circumstances. schools. This part of our programme is to guide revision, work through We will increase the 1140 hours problems and consolidate entitlement to cover all two-year olds. understanding, not extra classes with We will value the expertise and new materials that teachers need to contribution of teachers in Early Learning prepare. These are opt-in sessions for and Childcare settings. both children and staff, with a financial bonus for those who lead them. We will go further still to introduce an We will also offer families the legal right ambition to extend funded early to defer Primary 1 and have it replaced education and childcare hours to one- with funded early learning and year olds. Well-supported childcare has childcare starting this August, removing helped Sweden achieve the third highest the £4,500 price tag that the current economic participation rate among OECD government has left hanging over countries, and the second highest for families. women.

Play based education until age We will extend holiday clubs and activities to meet the needs of eligible children 7 to give children a flying start during the holidays. We will help more children get off to a We will encourage parents to study and good start at school by using play-based learn new skills by extending the existing learning until the age of 7. Our plans will childcare provision that is available for help children acquire important learning students to cover their periods of and social skills before formal schooling independent study and vocational starts. placements. We will also encourage The UK is almost unique in Europe in universities and colleges to be more expecting children as young as 4 or 5 to parent-friendly with parental leave, begin formal education. By the age of 9, breastfeeding and changing areas, and pupils in Finland have much higher sensible notice periods for timetable reading levels than pupils in the UK, changes. having started at the age of 7. We will stop the SNP's national testing of five-year-olds, as requested by Parliament in 2018.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 6 More in-class support to help existed since 2011 for service families elsewhere in the UK. every child reach their potential • Make sure pre-school children from disadvantaged backgrounds are Our country is stronger when every better supported when they start in individual is able to achieve their education with a Nursery Premium potential. For too long people’s success in which will have an emphasis on life has too often depended on how well- involving parents in their child’s off their parents were. The result is a gap development. in attainment between rich and poor. It means the whole country misses out on • Create a government-wide focus on the talents of thousands of people. attainment, starting with an extended programme to support parenting of An attainment gap exists. The Scottish the youngest children through family Government hasn’t tackled this. We will. nurse partnerships.

We will provide more in-class support to • Give more young people the help every child reach their potential. confidence and skills to achieve highly in their lives with a more securely We will support children with additional funded youth work service to allow it support needs. to reach young people who are not We will extend the Pupil Equity Fund engaged successfully in formal which provides money directly to schools education. for extra teachers, more pupil support We recognise that poverty and hunger assistants, one-to-one tuition and hobbies can be major factors in preventing for children from less well-off children from achieving their potential. backgrounds. By making the fund a We will double the Scottish Child Payment permanent feature we will give to tackle child poverty. We will increase confidence to schools to recruit additional the provision of free meals to all primary staff and reduce short-term contracts. school children, especially making sure We will take further action to give more breakfast is taken before learning starts. children the opportunity to succeed. We Liberal Democrats instigated the will: introduction of free school meals for primary school children in 2014. We will • Tackle the digital divide by making support the extension of free school sure every child has access to meals all year round for P1-P7 children. connected technology. Work with teachers to raise • Bring in a new Armed Forces Pupil Premium to recognise the disruption standards faced by the children of service Teachers have shown creativity and personnel, and their needs for extra resilience during the pandemic. By mental health and pastoral support, matching the provision that has

7 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First contrast their governing national agencies current 2+1 language policy in primary have been flat-footed. schools.

To help make Scottish education the best • Develop a data led evaluation again we will bring major change to the approach to all new educational SQA and Education Scotland. We will initiatives and pilot programmes to make sure people with recent teaching ensure change leads to improvement. experience have more say and can set the direction of the organisations. • Keep pace with the best in the world and understand Scotland’s progress in We will ask serving teachers to steer the education by rejoining the response to the OECD’s review into international assessments. Scottish education when it is published in full. Improve teacher pay and tackle workloads Our plan to raise standards will give every young person the opportunity to meet We want to put teachers at the heart of their potential. We want to see Scotland raising attainment. We will reward them as a whole rise back up the international with a fresh review of working conditions, rankings for education. We will: non-contact time, routes to promotion, • Raise standards and make sure that and pay to attract and retain the best no child slips through the net on recruits to the profession. This is reading and writing by getting equivalent to a second McCrone teachers to lead a literacy task force. commission that we hope will match in its impact its forebear of twenty years ago. • Ask teachers to lead reforms of the In advance of this we will increase the way primary schools tackle maths. starting salaries of teachers to £30,000, Without maths, none of the STEM helping attract more graduates in science, subjects - science, engineering and technology, engineering and maths. technology - is possible. We will help teachers focus on the needs • Give young people better access to of each individual pupil by providing a expert teachers in STEM subjects by guaranteed minimum level of support bringing back principal teachers for staff. each of them and for each science. That will create a more attractive We will boost the teaching workforce with career path for graduates in STEM simpler processes to allow qualified subjects within teaching. teachers from outside Scotland to join the Scottish teaching profession while • Convene a group of language maintaining professional standards. teachers to recommend new strategies to improve the uptake of We will extend the amount of teacher foreign languages in schools, noting training that can be undertaken remotely, the lack of evidence of success of the making it easier for people in remote,

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 8 island and rural areas to train and carry • Fully implement the out their placements locally. recommendations of the LGBTI We will pay a new “teacher premium” Inclusive Education Working Group, supplement for schools in disadvantaged underpinned by new statutory areas, and agree new, optional, three-year guidance on the conduct of packages for probationer teachers to help relationships, sexual health and local authorities get staff to take up posts parenthood education for schools. in particular geographical areas. • Guarantee that every primary and We will encourage regional collaboration secondary school pupil has at least between local authorities, aiming to one week away at an outdoor centre, match the success of the Northern as well as taking regular classroom Alliance which has worked well to find lessons outdoors. This will play an innovative ways to increase teacher important part in helping young numbers in hard-to-fill areas. people relate to nature and each other, and to understand and respect Our approach will provide effective their access rights and workforce planning, and a motivated and responsibilities. successful teaching profession. • Make music tuition free in schools in Education for life order to encourage participation and equal access. We want to make sure every young person can achieve their potential, with • Give better support to teachers who an education that embeds skills for life. have been required to deliver digital We will: learning to allow its potential to be used positively in the future, for • Integrate civil and citizenship example by sharing learning education into the current curriculum, resources between schools. including financial education, and teaching about relationships and • Champion an education service that is diversity, and make sure that we learn inclusive for each disabled child and the lessons of the Black Lives Matter disabled young person so that they movement by changing the way we receive appropriate care and support teach history to include a wider before, and during, the transition to perspective on empire, slavery, and adulthood. Scottish and British involvement in them. • Take forward the conclusions of the Angela Morgan review of additional • Increase the capacity of schools to support needs. teach about the climate emergency by increasing the support given in initial • Ask the inspectorate to assess how teacher training and providing well we respond to the needs of additional subject-specific materials. children with English as a second

9 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First language, and make them eligible for We will support our universities to offer Pupil Equity Funding. world-class opportunities. Brexit has already lost us expert academics and • Use the education system to tackle researchers from Scottish universities. We head-on the health issues which have to make sure an independence reduce healthy life expectancy in campaign doesn’t marginalise those from Scotland, by reviewing PE and the the rest of the UK too. Home Economics curriculum to focus on fitness and healthy cooking. We will offer stronger support through the Scottish Funding Council for research To underpin standards, we will re- in Scottish universities, recognising that establish the independence of the school Scotland’s weight on research is declining, inspectorate and separate it from the with a special focus on areas of medical policy and advisory functions of Education research where programmes have Scotland. reduced because their charity sponsors None of this work can wait. It needs five have lost income during the pandemic. years of needle-sharp focus from the We want to make Scotland the home to government. Every year we wait we let science by building on our great down another year group of young strengths, encouraging more people to people. take up science all through school, and Colleges and universities helping more women establish successful careers in science. We will robustly fund universities and We bitterly regret the loss of colleges. The work we need them to do is opportunities by withdrawal from the more significant than it has ever been and Erasmus programme. We will follow the is fundamental to the national interest. lead of the Liberal Democrat education We’ve seen Scottish institutions and minister in Wales and establish an experts play their part in the biggest international scheme to allow thousands scientific effort in history and help us all of Scottish students to study abroad and during the pandemic. Now they will be thousands of international students to critical to our needle-sharp focus on study here. We will also work to make the recovery, building our resilience and in most of the UK Government’s Turing responding to the climate emergency. Scheme.

We want to restore colleges to a powerful We will fund more places at Scottish role in local economic development, universities for Scottish students. training people of all ages in the skills they We will encourage Scottish universities to need to start - or change – their careers. widen access and help more young We will support people to access people from poorer backgrounds through retraining and further education with a to completion of their courses, and to new Training Bond to cut back the undertake outreach work in schools in financial barriers in their way. disadvantaged areas.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 10

Students have had a rough time in the • An urgent plan to put recovery first pandemic. Their studies were disrupted. for the NHS. They too often found themselves unfairly paying for expensive accommodation • A bigger range of specialists, they couldn’t use, their chances of diagnosis and treatment in local summer jobs were curtailed and the communities. number of career opportunities shrank. • Train more mental health Our proposals to support graduate work specialists for community centres, placements will make a real difference. hospitals, workplaces and schools. We will provide bursaries to student • Reduce the misery of drug abuse paramedics. with compassion and health We will take further steps with university treatment rather than prosecution. and college health services to improve • More to promote preventative mental health for students. health to take the pressure off the We will repair the system of bursaries and NHS. grants, noting that the SNP came to • National standards and fair pay for power in 2007 promising to “dump the all social care staff. debt” for students. After 14 years student debt has doubled. Students will not be • A national effort to improve required to repay student loans if their wellbeing based on people’s lived income is less than £25,000. experiences to tackle the barriers to good health. Good health with The need to help the NHS restored health The health service has been there for all services of us during the crisis of the pandemic. NHS workers have put in extra shifts and The virus has shown how much we sacrificed their own wellbeing to keep us should value the health and care safe. We will recognise and support their services and the people who work in efforts. them. The pandemic meant the cancellation of We have to act now to build health hundreds of thousands of treatments and services back up after the virus. Our diagnoses. There is a huge backlog of plan is urgent. We can’t wait years for work that needs to take place. a referendum to come and go. We will undertake an urgent plan to use Our proposals will build a stronger NHS the skills and experience of our health for the future and improve health and service staff, together with the lessons wellbeing, and allow us to achieve the learned from the innovation in the crisis, targets for treatment that were being to get our NHS and our country’s health missed before the pandemic. strong for the future.

11 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will conduct an urgent catch-up change. We will support the appointment programme for the NHS, increasing the of a patients’ commissioner to advocate number of diagnosis and treatment for all patients in a daunting system, and centres within health boards. help shape and direct their complaints.

We will empower GPs and health We will address the past failings of professionals working in the community workforce planning in the NHS by to refer people for appropriate tests on presenting an annual workforce report for suspicion of cancer and other life-limiting debate in the Scottish Parliament, conditions. We will expand testing including a study of the reasons newly capacity in every health board to meet the qualified staff leave the Scottish NHS for need to assess more people. work elsewhere.

We have supported a Scottish Budget More local health services that contains resources for a pay deal within the NHS which recognises the We will build stronger local health services astonishing commitment of staff, and the so that people can get the care they need need to make appealing long-term more locally. careers in the health service. We want a bigger range of specialists, It will be important to listen to the views diagnosis and treatment in local of NHS staff as to which service communities. innovations they pioneered during the We will expand the services available in pandemic will be essential to rebuild the GP surgeries. health service. There is lots of scope to use new technology and digital links, but We will aim to increase the number of we want to consult with NHS workers on trained GPs in Scotland. We will increase what is going to work best. the number of mental health professionals working at GP practices to Any new targets for this work will be help meet demand and improve access. crafted by NHS professionals to avoid We will also embed more nurses, distorting clinical priorities. dieticians and physiotherapists with GPs We will give patients a clearer picture of so that people can get a wider range of how long they will wait for diagnosis and diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care treatment, and scrap the current within their community. government’s “12 week wait” letters which We will empower pharmacists to do more are too often inaccurate. prescribing, making use of secure health Patients need a new strong voice to stand records. up for them. The Patients’ Rights Act from These steps will allow us to move to 15- 2011 isn’t delivering for them, as the minute appointments with GPs to help legally binding waiting-times guarantee people have more effective diagnosis and was broken 200 times a day pre- support from their doctor. pandemic. People have to wait in pain for treatment and for justice. We need

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 12 We want a new deal to increase the range We will train more mental health of treatments and diagnosis that are specialists for community centres, undertaken in hospitals across the hospitals, workplaces and schools. country. The current model of We will do this by doubling the number of centralisation has left people in many specialist psychiatrists in training for parts of Scotland, not least the highlands, young people. We will go further and islands and north east, with long journeys double the number of people training on to hospital. counselling courses. We will do this by creating strong clinical We will help people train to be networks to give peer support to counsellors by offering £5,000 grants to professionals working in remote and rural students undertaking courses. We will do communities. We will change professional that so that a wider range of people from education to support this new diverse backgrounds are able to train, decentralised model, including the given the hundreds of hours of development of the necessary skills. We commitment they need to make to will work with the professional bodies to qualify. support this change. We will also bring the counselling We will take forward the positive profession into NHS workforce planning innovations, such as video diagnosis and systems to make sure people have easier support, that were forced by the access to talking therapies and early pandemic but which have the potential to interventions. speed up the delivery of more local services. We will provide more walk-in services at mental health emergency centres – Mental health services similar to A&E – to meet the needs of We want mental health to be taken as people in mental health distress or crisis. seriously as physical health by the We will support a preventative approach Scottish Government. That means an end with more counsellors available for every to the long waits for diagnosis and school. treatment. It means more services available close to where people live. It We will increase the overall number of means people having local, direct access people training to be psychiatrists and to mental health treatment. There is no psychologists to work in the NHS. health without mental health. We will reform the way in which children We will set a target for 15 per cent of new and young people access mental health health spending to be directed to mental services, ending waits of a year and longer health. This will recognise the cost of for treatment. We will abolish so-called mental ill health to our families and rejected referrals by integrating Child & communities, the health service and the Adolescent Mental Health Services into a economy. new wider system of multi-disciplinary support, with safety nets and ladders so that families are never sent back to the

13 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First start of the process. There should be no • A new campaign to remove the stigma “wrong door” for mental health services. of mental ill health for new mothers, To start this we will expand and take and to provide reassurance that forward the pilot of family workers in GP keeping mothers and babies together practices in East Renfrewshire led by is a foremost concern. st Children 1 to cut the need for formal We will create dedicated facilities for CAMHS services and provide better in- perinatal loss, with a standard of care community support. equivalent to that provided to patients undergoing labour and delivery. We will We will refresh the mental health strategy accompany this with comprehensive to raise its ambition in line with our new mental health support for families plans. affected by perinatal loss. To lead by example we will issue guidance on the recording of mental health-related Make it easier to get help in a absences by public bodies. crisis

Better perinatal health We will work with businesses and organisations towards an ambition of We will offer new parents greater access having a mental health first aider in every to mental health services. Our offer will workplace, capable of providing peer build on the work of the existing support and identifying signs of ill health programme board: among colleagues.

• The current post-natal six-week check We will restart the suspended training to include support from a GP and programmes for this and suicide health visitor with specific training on prevention, and rapidly expand the maternal mental health, supported by number of people participating. a new time-bound plan to increase We will take a trauma-informed approach core training for GPs and health to train anyone who might encounter a visitors on mental health. person in distress.

• Referral to a suitable community peer- We will give health professionals more support network, operated by insight into the likely problems voluntary groups or the third sector, experienced by people in their care and supported by a health visitor. through the proper capture and recording of adverse childhood • Where inpatient care is needed this is experiences. offered with provision for the mother’s continuing care for the baby, with the We will bring more relevance and range of bed spaces expanded to timeliness to suicide statistics, and start allow more women to receive care work immediately on a new suicide and close to home. self-harm prevention strategy.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 14 Drugs and Alcohol We will use emergency housing funding to help people keep their homes and Alcohol related illness continues to affect tenancies while they undergo treatment too many people in Scotland and has not and rehabilitation. improved in years. It affects families and ruins lives. We understand that drug and We will link the minimum unit price of alcohol abuse is often linked to other alcohol to inflation. issues such as mental health and poverty. Social care services We will work hard to address the causes of these additions as well as provide more We support the recommendation of the support for their treatment. Independent Review of Adult Social Care that there should be a step change in We will reduce the misery of drug abuse social care. with compassion and health treatment rather than prosecution. We believe that social care should be provided on a human rights basis, We will take radical steps with the guaranteed for everyone, and be prosecution authorities and the Lord considered a normal part of life that Advocate to help establish heroin assisted merits investment to allow people to treatment and safe consumption spaces. achieve their goals and secure their We will establish new specialist Family wellbeing. A preventative approach Drug and Alcohol Commissions to help should be championed. provide wraparound services and to take We will work with other parties to create a a holistic approach to those reported for broad national consensus for reform. drug offences, learning from best international practice such as that in However, we do not support the creation Portugal. of a National Care Service as set out in the independent review because we are This will be part of our plan for people concerned that this risks losing local caught in possession of drugs for innovation and skills, and could repeat personal use to be diverted into the expensive mistakes made by the education, treatment and recovery, similar creation of Police Scotland. ceasing imprisonment in these circumstances. This will build on the Yet we do need step change, as it is the agreement brokered by Liberal key to improving the quality of life for Democrats in the last week of the last social care users, and implementation parliamentary session. should begin as soon as possible through existing systems and should not be We will protect and enhance drug and delayed by a need to create new alcohol partnership budgets, and adopt organisations to deliver it. the principle that individuals and families shouldn’t have to pay for the care and We will prioritise the establishment of treatment of those at risk of death from national pay bargaining and commit to drugs or alcohol. funding the outcomes so that care

15 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First workers get fair pay and better career rebuild the NHS to deal with the backlog progression as soon as possible. of treatments and diagnosis we will redouble our efforts to promote The social care workforce should be wellbeing and preventative health respected for the work they do, and we measures. will make it a requirement that any care service by any provider must comply with We need to get ahead on prevention, fair work requirements which are set support and research. We will renew the nationally. strength of science that is researching new treatments for conditions that blight We support the establishment of national the lives of too many people. We will give care service standards, with the funding a voice to representative groups, charities put in place to meet those standards, and and the third sector who are working effective complaint resolution for those hard to make lives better. We will ask the people for whom services fall short. Scottish Parliament to initiate a major National standards and local programme, supported by the Scottish commissioning will involve disabled Government, to listen and act on their people and other care users, and be expertise and lived experience to improve informed by local experience of unmet wellbeing and tackle ill health. needs. We will reinvigorate anticipative care, Our reforms will allow carers to build where the NHS steps in early to help relationships and trust with care users, people at risk of developing serious moving away from narrow task-based conditions, improving the quality of their contracts. life. Noting the recent poor life expectancy statistics, we know this is not We will scrap charges for care services a new issue and understand the sorrow delivered at home, helping people to stay of lives that are cut short. in their homes if they choose. We will help people understand better We will make sure people do not have to the health promotion and screening pay for their care when they have services available to them and move more advanced dementia. of them closer to where they live. We will:

We will give relatives of care home • Reinvigorate the Detect Cancer Early residents the status of essential caregiver programme to include new ways to to ensure they are not separated from promote the importance of cervical their loved ones in care homes in the way screening and other cancer screening they have been during the pandemic. programmes. More to promote preventative • Prioritise the science to increase health and effective rehab genetic screening for cancer.

The NHS serves us astonishingly well in • Keep people healthy with new mobile our times of need. It has shown its preventative services and screening. strength during the pandemic. As we

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 16 into the potential link between brain • Get blood pressure checks in more injuries, dementia and ball sports. places.

• Support educational and youth • Help preventative services work better organisations to encourage young by integrating screening services and women to discuss any body social prescribing. confidence issues with medical • Revamp social prescriptions by getting professionals. more buy-in from service providers • Commit the Scottish Chief Scientist such as sports facilities. Office to a biomedical research • Appoint an Outdoor Recreation programme on the burden of M.E. Champion within government to help and expand this work to include study everyone in Scotland get the benefits. of Long Covid and chronic fatigue, particularly as they affect women. • Support wellbeing by making it easier for people to use active travel, • Establish a clinical network to reserving more space for safe cycling research and support Long Covid. and walking. • Support the Home to Hospital service • Use the education system to promote established by Chest, Heart and healthy lifestyles to pupils and Stroke Scotland so that it operates parents, and identify indicators of across Scotland and can provide one- future problems. to-one support for Covid survivors across Scotland, as well as people with We will help the NHS and public services chest, heart and stroke conditions. We serve people more efficiently by will create a right to rehab which will increasing the priority of work on long- help people after their hospital care term and hidden conditions. We will: and help them achieve their goals.

• Help more adults with ADHD by taking We will remove criminal sanctions for it more seriously at a national level receiving an abortion, and for and helping GPs to prescribe more appropriately regulated medical suitable treatment and management, professionals providing them. We will especially on the transition from child provide funding so that users of and adolescent mental health services reproductive healthcare services are to adult care. provided with enough specialist advice to make fully informed decisions. We will • Prevent unnecessary harm by legally enforce safe zones around providing screening tools and training abortion service providers so that those for ADHD across police custody suites, visiting can travel to them free of any courts, prison and probation services. harassment or pressure on their decision.

• Examine what support can be given to We will take palliative care more seriously, ex-football and rugby players suffering reinvigorating the clinical network and from dementia, and develop research adopting a new five-year plan which

17 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First accelerates the missed objectives of the We will establish an island travel scheme previous plan. for teams and individuals to compete in national events. We will commit to a charter for mesh care to ensure that the campaign led by We will work for an equitable culture survivors leaves a lasting legacy. within Scottish sport to encourage as many people as possible to take part. We Sport will make sure opportunities are not dictated by gender, ethnicity or any other We will celebrate and encourage a return characteristic, and work to make sure to sport at grassroots and national levels funding allocations are fair. for all ages and gender. We will support anti-racism and anti- Grassroots sport will benefit from the homophobia campaigns and work to investment and interest in our Bounce make sport inclusive and intolerant of Back Education plan, and the new funded discrimination at all levels. entitlements for children and young people to use over the holidays. Business and We will extend the discounts offered to young people with a Young Scot card to employment more sports centres, cultural and arts venues. After years of division over referendums and the shock of the We will ensure that Scotland doesn't miss pandemic, business needs greater out on the golden legacy of Judy, Andy certainty to face the future. and Jamie Murray by supporting the development of accessible tennis Productivity is the driver for our facilities, with covered courts, including in prosperity. Our plans on education and rural areas, to get more people playing mental health will help make sure we tennis with more pathways for their have a workforce equipped for the potential successors. challenge. Scotland’s economic potential is built upon its people and networks, its We will promote more fan ownership and knowledge base and its natural assets. involvement in professional football clubs Our ambition is to build a robust and and leagues to secure better governance, diverse economy where businesses can inclusive decision-making, transparency thrive, and everyone can have access to and accountability, and a better fan work. experience. We will take the opportunity to rebuild We will participate in the UK-wide and repurpose economic activity towards preparatory work for a 2030 Men’s World climate friendly industry, pursuing new Cup bid being funded by the UK green investments. We recognise that Government and propose it to be the first small and local businesses can often, by climate crisis compliant tournament and a their nature, be quicker to adapt. model of how to hold major events in future.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 18 We will take special care to give the Skills and work experience regions of Scotland heavily invested in fossil fuels a fair transition to new We will support people to up-skill and industries which use their immense access work experience. technical, scientific and engineering skills. We will offer a job guarantee for every 16- As we look to the future, we acknowledge 24-year-old so that they all have access to that the experience of the last 12 months a job or training. has fallen heavily on the shoulders of the To do that we will expand support for young. So we will give young people apprenticeships, offer jobs through public stronger opportunities to start their agencies and our new programmes for careers, and give workers of all ages the the creative industries, and in other opportunity to retrain to acquire skills of sectors such as low carbon and artificial the future. intelligence. Support for business growth and We will create a new national programme resilience will be as important as for 2,000 paid graduate internships with entrepreneurship and company creation. small businesses. This programme will be Efficient access to international markets run through the enterprise agencies and and an undisrupted relationship with our university careers services. It will support largest trading partner – the rest of the placements for graduates from 2020 and UK - is essential. 2021.

• A job guarantee for every 16-24 Paid graduate internship opportunities year old. like this will provide an effective way to support both graduates and the local • 2,000 paid graduate internships economy. with small businesses. Support the work of Scottish Union of • New £5,000 Scottish Training Bonds Supported Employment to ensure to help people change careers. disadvantaged and disabled people can • Scotland to be the most diverse get access to work. business culture in Europe. Training bonds for new skills • Scottish workers given the best chance to manufacture offshore We will offer new Scottish Training Bonds wind turbines. for people to help them change careers. We will accompany the bonds, worth up • Increase the range of jobs and to £5,000, with careers advice to help careers available to people in rural people future-proof their new skills. areas. Bonds will be targeted at people facing redundancy and those who don’t have • New support for arts performances the cushion of income to sustain in more communities than ever themselves during their training. We will before. work in partnership with businesses to develop and supplement their own

19 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First schemes as part of their employee • Overhaul public sector procurement incentives. policies to ensure they support local We will support people who have suppliers, micro-bidders, fair unconventional CVs, such as no formal employment practices and to take certification or extended periods of note of the level of state aid in non- absence from the workplace, to build a Scottish bids. recognised career passport. • Empower local partnerships between Our aim is to make sure Scotland has a businesses, colleges, universities and reputation as the most highly skilled and communities, making sure that the adaptable workforce in Europe. city deals across Scotland and the economic transition in the North East A diverse business culture follow partnership principles. We will restore community focus to Highlands We will take steps to help Scotland and Islands Enterprise, removed by support the most diverse business the current government. culture in Europe, to value more sectors and encourage more women into • Ensure the mission for the Scottish business. We will: National Investment Bank is ambitious and diverse. It should maintain the • Encourage enterprise bodies to supply of risk capital into early-stage recognise the value, beyond businesses and act as a guarantor in traditional economic measures, of low income, rural, under-banked more diverse sectors, and to increase business opportunities working in their support for innovation activity partnership with enterprise agencies and new technology in businesses to ensure wrap-around support. that provide services such as care and education. • Support the development of a “Made in Scotland” quality standard, beyond • Encourage enterprise bodies to value food and drink, to support consumer and support more small and micro choice and aid exports. businesses, taking account of local community impacts, supporting them • Launch a consultation on how to beyond the start-up phase to include support local retailers to maximise the expansion, collaboration and opportunities around online retail and diversification. to reduce the environmental impact of deliveries. • Offer direct support from government agencies to enable more employee, • Change planning regulations so that cooperative and community town centres can adapt to new ownership of businesses particularly demands with the support of local whenever the government sells up its communities. shares in companies. • Establish a rapid-reaction service, like the Partnership for Continuing

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 20 Employment to bring together all Scotland-wide effort to scale-up capacity public agencies to explore how and compete with the world. We need to community assets, such as bank make sure that Scottish yards are well- branches, post offices or pubs, can be placed if the UK Government changes maintained. policy, as promised, to include the use of local skills as a factor in awarding • Establish a right for communities to Contracts for Difference – the protect threatened community government auctions for offshore wind facilities through different ownership power. or the use of shared premises as hubs. Community groups or Connectivity cooperatives should be given a fair Modern digital connections are essential chance to purchase or acquire these to give every part of Scotland the assets. opportunity to thrive. We need high • Provide transition support and speed connections supported by reliable specialist low carbon advice free of mobile phone signals to support a wide charge to businesses on how to variety of business, education and new minimise the impact of their work on innovations in telemedicine in every the environment. corner of the country. New green industries Connections to superfast broadband across Scotland have been delayed. The Our investment plans for warmer homes, contract for the highlands and islands has new heat networks and hydrogen power only just been awarded, and delayed will create thousands of jobs and fantastic again for four years. business opportunities. These will use the technical and engineering skills from the Even under that contract many oil and gas industry and be part of a just households and business will be left out transition. of connection and be saddled with high costs into the future. We will support the development of a centre of excellence for carbon capture We will make sure that the work for the and efficient energy generation. We will islands and remote parts of the country is involve the construction and renewables not left until last. industries, along with utility companies, in We will also establish a network of partnership with colleges, universities and community connection managers. They planners to ensure every opportunity is will broker bespoke solutions for taken to create an economy that is fit for communities that fear they will be left out the future. of the main programme by pooling the We want to give Scottish workers the best compensation vouchers they are entitled chance to manufacture offshore wind to and using further financial support turbines. The fiasco with BiFab where from the main contract. We won’t leave it government promises failed to deliver to a monopoly provider to give everyone sustained employment showed we need a cost-effective connections.

21 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First The rural economy and land opportunities needed to develop diverse communities. We will: reform

The rural economy is already worth a • Expand the Scottish Land Fund to quarter of the whole Scottish economy. It help further community ownership is important that it thrives and grows. across Scotland, empowering sustainable communities to Our plans for rural and remote areas will repopulate. see thousands of new jobs and public services developed locally, building more • Prioritise land acquisition for diverse and growing communities. We will communities by developing a localised increase the range of jobs and careers service to assist self-builders and available to people in rural areas: communities in securing land to meet housing demand, coordinating with • Encourage colleges to become rural local authorities, landowners and enterprise hubs, meeting local skills housing associations. needs and supporting innovative new businesses. • Institute a First Time Builders Fund, modelled on the Scottish • Roll out superfast broadband to Government’s First Home Fund, to support business growth, education support population growth in rural and public services in rural areas. areas where there is no existing housing stock available for purchase. • Start a programme to consider new civil service jobs and government • Extend and expand the Rural Housing agencies for rural locations, learning Fund and the Islands Housing Fund, from remote working during the and reduce the barriers for pandemic. communities to access them.

• Increase support for the NHS in rural • Give the Scottish Land Commission areas to increase the number of the power to legally enforce the skilled professionals living in those voluntary Rights and Responsibilities communities. Protocols that govern the relationship between landowners and • Take opportunities for major projects communities, like the mandatory such as space ports to anchor new codes of practice overseen by the high-skill and high-wage jobs in Tenant Farming Commissioner. remote areas. • Afford rural communities enhanced • Increase biodiversity and restore consultation rights and consideration peatlands to create scientific, by public bodies, similar to the Islands technical and engineering Act, to ensure that the unique opportunities in remote areas. challenges facing rural communities in Our plans for land reform will help mainland Scotland are addressed. provide the housing and business

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 22 farm support to replace closing EU • We will support landowners and schemes. We will provide new incentives managers to stimulate innovation, to help farmers transition to a more diversification and support new sustainable agriculture, provide support entrants. for high quality food production, ensure Food and drink fairness in the supply chain and help young people into the industry. We will Our farming businesses work hard, match the scale of resources from the old sometimes in truly challenging conditions. schemes. Over the decades farmers have proven to be adaptable and innovative in new crops Our priority will be to develop a new and techniques. system of agriculture support that recognises Scotland’s particular strengths Agriculture provides the raw materials for and needs. Scotland’s flagship food and drink exports worth over £5 billion per annum. We We will use the recent conclusions of the support the target to double Scottish expert working groups on agriculture food and drink turnover to £30 billion by support as a starting point in driving the 2030. transition to a more sustainable food production system. We will ‘croft proof’ We will consult on a Good Food Nation future agricultural support to make sure Bill to bring together reforms needed to active family farmers and crofters are promote food and drink as a resilient part properly supported. of our economy. This will include measures to cut food miles by valuing In particular we want the Scottish industry seasonal Scottish produce in a Scotland- to get the benefits from growing first public procurement policy. We will consumer awareness of the carbon help food producers and processors footprint of food and the need to cut navigate the tendering processes so that ‘food miles’. they can seek out opportunities to secure We will have a focus to reduce carbon in procurement contracts. We will use the the livestock sector through more Good Food Nation Bill to create a right to efficient production. We will support food, with cross-government work to end Scottish farming to match the sector in the need for food banks. England and Wales which has committed We will continue to use the UK’s extensive to carbon neutrality by 2040. network of overseas missions to promote Brexit has brought considerable Scottish food and drink, as well as use problems, red tape and border controls Scottish enterprise agencies directly for exporters. We will work with the UK overseas. Government to resolve as many of these Helping Scottish farming meet as possible in time for autumn lamb exports. new challenges We will work hard to get Scottish seed We will work with the farming and crofting potatoes back into Europe. communities to develop a new system of

23 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will ensure that high UK food inshore waters sustainably, and as locally standards are not undermined in new as possible. We will seek to end trade deals. unsustainable fishing practices such as gill net trawling, and work to eliminate plastic We will work for a level playing field in the pollution from our seas. UK single market which takes nearly 70 percent of Scottish food exports. As other industries compete for the use of marine space we will seek to balance We will develop simpler governance of the competing demands of different crofting with the Crofting Commission users including aquaculture, marine enabled to be the leader in the active renewables and marine protected areas management of crofting. so that all interests can be We will take steps to make it easier for accommodated. people to move into farming, and for We will work in partnership with the UK people to pass on farms through their Government to ensure that our UK family. immigration system allows the fishing We will continue to press the UK industry access to the labour that they Government to take action to repair the need to crew their boats while investing in damage that Brexit has caused to the the necessary training and education to attractiveness of Scotland for seasonal provide the crews of the future. workers from Europe. Science and sustainability must be at the We will expand and diversify the Farm heart of management and regulation of Advisory Service to provide new jobs, industries producing caught and farmed training and skills, that support fish and shellfish. While continuing to sustainable land use. seek the best scientific advice from bodies such as ICES we shall learn from the We will continue Scottish Government experience of countries like Norway and support for the National Rural Mental Iceland which have their own domestic Health Forum. bodies gathering data and which can be used more quickly. We will help farmers with the costs of clearing up fly-tipping and increase efforts We support the Scottish aquaculture to catch tippers, using the proceeds of a industry and the high value it adds to its new restitution order. Scottish produce. We will support the industry to make continual improvements Fishing and aquaculture to production standards, and do all we Scotland’s coastal and island communities can to smooth its route to international depend on healthy and growing fishing markets. and aquaculture industries. Their future Gaelic language recovery will depend on partnership working. We want a holistic approach to

We will work with the fishing industry, supporting Gaelic. scientists and conservationists to manage

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 24 Housing is tied to the Gaelic crisis in our We recognise that many community-level communities. We recognise that there are difficulties with maintaining Gaelic have barriers to Gaelic being spoken in the come about as a result of an erosion of home, even though that keeps the local autonomy. We are committed to community vernacular strong. One barrier reversing government centralisation to is people forced to move out of their ensure that community voices are heard Gaelic-speaking communities because and listened to as a rule of there are no homes they can afford, or policymaking. This will empower Gaelic there are simply no jobs. Our land reform speaking communities to make decisions and plans for community housebuilding about how to best sustain their language will help local communities put this right. and culture.

We will seek to extend opportunities for Get tourism back in Scotland Gaelic immersion through initiatives such as Gaelic after-school clubs, Gaelic sports, We recognise that Scottish tourism and community Feisean, which would also business had a difficult pandemic. Too create jobs within communities. many of them were not eligible for support schemes until very late, if at all. We will continue to support existing media that work to normalise Gaelic The uncertainty and the constantly outside of the classroom, particularly changing regulations during the online, where there is growing interest in pandemic made it difficult to plan. the language. We hope that the industry can look We will address the limits to Gaelic forward now to a brighter future, medium education when the parents especially with more people choosing don’t have Gaelic. We will continue to holidays in Scotland. We will take steps to support accessible Gaelic language give quality Scottish tourism the best initiatives to make sure parents and possible opportunity to succeed. children alike can empower themselves to We will enact a substantial programme of learn together. The SpeakGaelic initiative capital works in tourist areas to provide from MG Alba and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is better car parking, electric charging points an important new resource. and signage to manage tourist numbers Gaelic medium education has grown in better. popularity since 2010. Access is not We will aim to create and publicise a equitable across Scotland, which is a network of public toilets with waste and particular problem across the rubbish disposal points across Scotland. Gàidhealtachd where there are comparatively few Gaelic medium primary Get the arts and cultural schools. We will work with local sector bouncing back authorities to invest in Gaelic medium education and teacher training to ensure The creative industries and their more thorough and equitable distribution performance spaces such as theatres across Scotland. were hit hard in the pandemic. We need

25 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First to make sure that we don’t lose them • Make learning an instrument free during the recovery. Hundreds of people again in schools through agreement graduated in the summer of 2020 from with local authorities. courses in music, theatre and the arts, and in associated production and • Work with the General Teaching technical skills. In order to protect a Council Scotland to introduce vibrant and diverse cultural sector in professional recognition of instrument Scotland we need to take urgent action. music teachers. We will earmark money for a new Show We will also work with UK Government to Must Go On Fund. This will have five-year resolve problems in their Brexit policy objectives to: which are now restricting people touring and performing abroad. • Create graduate internship opportunities in the arts, paying for graduates to start their careers within Transport art and cultural companies. Efficient transport is essential for the • Protect performance, rehearsal and health of the economy, society and the exhibition spaces that are at risk environment. because of the lower footfall legacy of As we put recovery first after the the pandemic. pandemic, we will make changes to • Step up support for in-person transport to respond to the new ways of working that the pandemic brought. performance with the aim to get more arts into more communities than ever We will make sure that every part of before, to inspire and entertain. Scotland has an excellent local transport system and good links to the Set up a government-backed • rest of the country. cancellation insurance guarantee so that producers have confidence to Transport, along with heat, is the sector begin preparations for new shows. where least progress has been made on cutting carbon emissions. We will move • Support seat purchase initiatives to every form of transport away from fossil help shows go ahead with social fuels. distancing.

• Create single through-tickets and • Develop a new initiative to have more swipe cards that work for buses, high-quality Scottish arts trains and ferries across Scotland. performances available digitally. • Reopen railway lines and move • Work towards a Creative Schools away from fossil fuels on the initiative to support the arts network. equivalent to Active Schools for sports. • Give the public confidence in electric vehicles by progress

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 26 towards a network of well- • Change town planning processes to maintained rapid chargers. make sure roads have separate • Support active travel, making it spaces for cyclists, walkers and easier to make safe journeys by motorists, to keep them all safe. bike or on foot. • Make cycling more attractive with a • New local powers to integrate all new challenge fund to help install forms of transport and to control showers and changing rooms in local bus services. workplaces or community facilities.

Supporting low-carbon • Decarbonise commuting through transport more support for e-bikes, as part of a plan to increase government support The single biggest challenge to stop for households to buy or use forms of carbon emissions from transport will be electric transport. to encourage drivers out of their cars and Aim to double the share of the budget onto public transport, or to switch to • spent on active travel, and bring electric vehicles if this is not possible. forward the £50 million programme We will give the public confidence in for Active Freeway routes from town electric vehicles by progress towards a centres to outlying neighbourhoods, network of well-maintained rapid which has been delayed until 2025 by chargers. the current government. To lead by example, we will end all Plan so that every child has done their excuses for the public sector not to • cycling proficiency test by the end of switch to electric vehicles, to give the primary school, and every adult can public sector a role in keeping the take tuition and a test if they want it. charging network maintained. We will set a legal presumption by the end of the • Extend free bus travel for young Parliament that every new vehicle people to include ferry links. purchased for the public sector will be low carbon. • Insist on a Fatal Accident Inquiry for To promote low carbon transport we will: each pedestrian death and require regional transport authorities to take • Make it easier to integrate chargers remedial action. into streetlights or other street furniture as technology allows, and • Make sure Scotland is well-placed to require new developments to include benefit from a good share on UK charging points as standard. Government investment from its Transport Decarbonisation Plan. • Help people get around the high initial cost of electric vehicles by using car • Make sure Scotland gets a good share clubs in more places. of the benefits from the UK Government’s plan for alternative fuels for ferries, including by 2022 to

27 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First start marine vessel trials in Orkney, Limiting aviation and work towards hydrogen ports. We will seek to limit air transport outside Rail recovery of lifeline routes or those with no reasonable alternatives. We will replace We will support recovery in public air passenger duty with a frequent flyer transport by driving improvements to levy to target the costs on the most services under Scotrail through stronger polluting users, maintaining exemptions protections for passengers and use of for Highlands and Islands connections. new ministerial directions over We will also ensure passengers on private performance. jets pay rates that reflect the per- We will use the opportunity of passenger impact of these flights on the government control of Scotrail alongside environment. our plans for regulation of buses to better We will also work closely with the UK integrate local transport for the benefit of Government to make sure Scotland gets a the passenger. We will embrace the good share of the benefits from its plans opportunity to run railways better, as the to research and invest in the production UK Government makes major changes in of sustainable aviation fuels and develop response to the Williams Review of rail zero-emission aircraft. franchising. We will stop the Scottish Government- We will continue to invest in rail routes to owned Highlands and Islands Airports speed up journeys. We will reopen railway from ripping off customers on parking lines closed under the Beeching cuts in charges, and restore the local air traffic the 1960s, and phase out fossil fuels on control functions that are being the network. We will report annually to centralised by the SNP. the Scottish Parliament on progress and on re-opening new stations on existing Integrating public transport to railway lines. The success of the Borders meet the needs of passengers Railway gives the potential to extend the route to Hawick and Carlisle. We will bring operators together to create single through-tickets and swipe cards We will continue steps to get more freight that work for buses, trains and ferries onto railways to reduce congestion and across Scotland. pollution. We will extend this system so that people We will move away from fossil fuels for can buy a time-limited pass for journeys ground transportation and for ferries, by trains, buses, hired bikes and car clubs. supporting a transformation to hydrogen We will do this by developing existing and battery power in remote and smart zones and making use of the highland areas, with electric power where support given to operators to install it is possible in other areas. contactless systems during the pandemic.

We will give every part of Scotland locally controlled oversight of transport to make sure the system delivers economic

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 28 opportunity and equity, and tackles the the A9, A96 and for the A82 and A83 climate emergency. You can’t integrate corridors. local transport from a desk in Edinburgh. This goes hand in hand with the need to Regional transport partnerships will have accelerate journey times on the Highland the resources to integrate all forms of mainline railway and Edinburgh to transport locally, with new powers to Aberdeen line. These are core control bus services in their areas. connections. We will give local communities control Supporting core connectivity means over the routes and timetables for bus retaining the Air Discount Scheme for the services, ending Mrs Thatcher’s northern isles, and restoring its use for deregulation and giving people a better business. service that suits passengers rather than bus company owners. We will institute a full assessment of the

These regional partnerships will be able potential of a year-round ferry link from to tackle inequality and shape demand Campbeltown to Ardrossan to reduce the with new services, not just respond to need to travel by road past the Rest and current pressures. Be Thankful.

We will ask regional transport partnerships to lead innovation through Support the police, demand-responsive transport, using cut crime, help technology to bridge the gap between taxis and buses. victims

We will set the ambition across Everything we do is aimed at helping government to make all city and town every individual to reach their centres vehicle-emissions free by 2030 to potential. That means reducing crime support active, public and zero emission and the fear of crime. travel. Police officers and police support staff Core transport connectivity work incredibly hard, day in day out. As We support the recommendations of the key workers, they have been on the Infrastructure Commission that more frontline throughout the pandemic. emphasis needs to be given to the Our plans will help the police to cut crime, maintenance of public assets, and the working with other local services, and poor condition of many roads shows why supported by a justice system that works improvements are needed. effectively to support victims and cut We also recognise that communities reoffending. deserve a standard of core connectivity to • the rest of Scotland and new safety Better support to police officers measures. That is why we continue to and civilian staff in their difficult support investment programmes such as jobs especially where they plug the gaps in other public services.

29 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First • Cut crime and improve conditions with shoddy buildings and rehabilitation services for people ageing equipment. We will prioritise leaving prison so they are less modernisation and investment in IT likely to re-offend and cause more capabilities, unlocking future savings and damage. ending the reliance on analogue technology in a digital age. • Get more mental health support workers alongside the police. We will respect the skills and experience that police support staff bring to the • Give greater confidence to victims service. of crime. We will recruit specialist mental health • Increase the influence of staff to work alongside the police and take communities over the way they are on more of the workload when police policed and enable more effective officers are required to act like social crime prevention. workers of last resort. We will expand the • Reform Fatal Accident Inquiries to Community Triage and the Mental Health stop delays and learn the lessons Hub services so that those suffering more quickly. mental distress are supported by a trained professional as soon as possible. The police are increasingly having to plug the gaps in other public services. They are Police officers and support staff will picking up the pieces of Scotland's mental benefit from our wider mental health health crisis. Three years after Scottish plans and new initiatives to support their Liberal Democrats secured a government own wellbeing, including a mental health commitment to give the police a share of first aider in every workplace to support 800 new dedicated mental health colleagues. professionals, they've only received 16 We will ensure the police have the extra staff. resources to conduct annual staff surveys, Since the SNP's botched centralisation, so that emerging issues can be identified the national force’s finances have been and addressed. consistently in the red. It has had three We will legislate to bring back democracy chief constables, four board chairs and into Police Scotland, making sure local four chief executives during its short policing plans are approved by locally history. elected people. We will remove the sole We will ensure that Police Scotland has right of ministers to appoint the Scottish the support and resources it needs to Police Authority. protect our communities and its We will enact the recommendations of employees. Dame Elish Angiolini’s independent review Support the police into police complaints handling. Our proposals to tackle homelessness, to We will make sure that police officers do take stronger action to help recovery not have to work in terrible working from drug and alcohol abuse, to offer

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 30 more education and training Service had to cease its rehabilitation opportunities, and mandate more service, self-harm has spiralled and there outreach youth services, will all have an are waits of up to 42-weeks for basic impact in reducing crime. education courses.

All this work needs local public agencies The lack of throughcare and proper to work together in partnership, which is support for people in prison and when why it is important to have good local leaving custody increases the likelihood of links for police services. reoffending.

We will guarantee sufficient resources for We will implement healthcare plans for the police’s Wildlife Crime Investigation people suffering ill health within two Unit. weeks of their entering prison, giving them the best chance for their health, Liberal Democrats support the highest especially mental health, to be improved standards of animal welfare. We will upon release and to get on in life. clamp down on illegal pet imports and maintain the protection of standards for We will make sure people have a bank all animals. account and have had their social security eligibility assessed before they leave We will take forward reform of the wild prison alongside a new right to welfare, mammals legislation following Lord housing and healthcare appointments Bonomy’s report. The changes will within 48 hours of release, underpinned sufficiently protect animals, meet the by Housing First principles. needs of our rural communities, work effectively and give all those involved in its We will work with justice partners to operation the clarity that makes it fit for measure post-prison destinations such as purpose. education, employment or training, and to publish the results alongside existing Cut crime by cutting reconviction rates, to provide an evidence reoffending basis for future policy.

We will tackle crime by reducing We will speed up the rollout of the new reoffending, which is shown women’s prison estate, designed to help internationally to be the most effective reduce reoffending. way to cut the numbers of crimes and make communities safer. We support purposeful activity in prison to equip people for employment, The total economic and societal cost of including literacy and numeracy skills, reoffending is estimated to be £3 billion a leading to accredited qualifications. We year. This shows the value in taking action will encourage people on remand to to cut reoffending. undertake short education courses, with the assurance that their engagement with Scotland’s prison population is at record purposeful activity does not imply guilt. levels and people are remanded at double the rate of England. They are so We will extend the Scottish Business overcrowded that the Scottish Prison Pledge to develop a commitment to

31 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First providing a level playing field for We will initiate an independent applicants who have completed a investigation by a non-Scottish prosecutor sentence. to examine how the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service runs itself and We will work towards introducing a supports it staff, and to recommend the presumption against remand, based on additional resources for summary public protection, so that people awaiting prosecution, diversion and criminal trial are only imprisoned where it is defence needed to run a faster and more necessary to safeguard communities and efficient justice system. public safety. We will invest properly in alternatives, such as Bail Supervision To put victims first we will: Orders and electronic tagging. • Build a more restorative justice Give confidence to victims system so that victims, where they agree, can get the damage of crime Scotland’s justice system can cause repaired by the perpetrator. further trauma and harm. Victims often speak of secondary victimisation, and • Support the increased use of victims’ some have described the experience as statements and their involvement in worse than the crime itself. sentencing and reparation, in ways that are proven to cut reoffending. We will listen to the lived experience of victims and legislate to make targeted • Ensure enough victim and family changes to improve their experience, for information liaison workers, so that example by introducing a right to victims are fully supported throughout anonymity for victims of sexual crimes. the criminal justice process. We will give victims a voice using feedback • Target recent increases in fraud and from support organisations on the online abuse by introducing a new Victims’ Taskforce, improving issues such online crime office. as access to information, feeling safe and experiencing compassion. • Fully incorporate the Barnahus model for child victims and witnesses, which We will reduce the amount of time cases allows them to give evidence in a take to complete and address court home-like setting away from court. backlogs, by supporting the overwhelmed Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal • Treat the victims of domestic abuse Service. more fairly by building a presumption We will support this work with an that the perpetrator will be required independent director of prosecutions to to leave the shared home, updating run the Crown Office and Procurator the Matrimonial Homes (Family Fiscal Service, separate from the Lord Protection) Act. Advocate’s position as the Scottish • Develop a new ‘Destitution Fund’ for Government’s legal advisor. people experiencing domestic abuse

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 32 unable to access other sources of We will consult on going further to help. establish “no firework” zones, further mandatory conditions of sale, and the Fatal Accident Inquiries options to give more power to local When people lose a family member in a authorities so that decisions can be made sudden and unexpected way, they are close to communities affected. often left with years more pain waiting for the Fatal Accident Inquiry to begin. Tackle the climate Fatal Accident Inquiries are still being emergency published up to a decade after incidents, despite there being lessons that need to We will act to tackle the climate be learnt from the tragedy. emergency and declare a nature emergency. We will commission a full independent review of the systems of Fatal Accident We are trustees of our world, and our Inquiries to investigate and propose society, and must pass on a reforms that address the protracted sustainable legacy which will benefit timescales, structural barriers and lack of future generations. public confidence in the process. This Climate change, pollution and the review will learn from the coroner degradation of the natural world pose the systems in the rest of the UK. It will also greatest threats to the wellbeing and determine the options for removing such freedom of present and future inquiries from the Crown Office and generations. Procurator Fiscal Service's responsibilities altogether. It has shown itself to be We want the Scottish Parliament to put incapable of handling them and the tackling the climate and nature delays it oversees routinely torment emergencies at the centre of the urgent grieving families. work needed in the next five years. Every delay makes the chance to avoid We will aim to ensure that Fatal Accident catastrophic climate change less likely. We Inquiries begin within 12 months to cannot afford distractions. ensure lessons that can save lives are We will ensure that net zero carbon and learned. nature recovery objectives are built into Fireworks decision-making, reward rapid progress and encourage behavioural change. We will take forward the work of the Our plans will accelerate action to tackle Firework Review Group to tighten climate change to meet the tougher restrictions around how fireworks are target of a 75% reduction by 2030 that accessed and used by the general public was put into Scottish law after work by the in Scotland. Scottish Liberal Democrats, making it one We will assess the impact of the new of the strongest objectives in the world. restrictions on firework sales put in place for November 2021.

33 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will meet Scottish climate change We will use nature to help fight climate targets in full by 2045, which is five years change and foster biodiversity though earlier than the UK’s Climate Change restoration of peatlands and woodland. Committee recommended, We will propose a Nature Recovery Law to acknowledging how hard that will be. set legal targets across government to We will be proud to host the COP26 in clean up our air, soils, seas and rivers. We Glasgow and want the Scottish Parliament will: to have agreed to our ambitious climate emergency plans by the time delegates • Set legally binding nature recovery arrive. We will also highlight the targets, with an action plan and opportunities to visit the best of Scotland financial support for delivery. such as the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire • Protect and restore carbon-rich UNESCO Biosphere and our leading habitats while phasing out harmful research science hubs. practices.

• Move one million homes to zero • Expand woodland using at least 50 emission heating by 2030. per cent native species, increasing • Invest in low carbon heat networks. Scotland’s forest cover by an additional 36 million trees every year. • Double the programmes to end fuel poverty. • Develop a formal strategy for Scotland’s Wild Land Areas. • Invest in new skills for a just transition from fossil fuel industry • Set a national target that 30 per cent as demand drops. of all publicly owned land should be used for rewilding, including land • Make it easier to re-purpose town owned by Forestry and Land Scotland, centres and transport systems to Crown Estate Scotland, and Scottish fit post-pandemic life. Water. • New national parks, and new woodlands close to where people • Implement the recommendations of live. the Deer Management Review to control numbers and restore • A fully independent environment biodiverse landscapes. standards organisation to keep government on the right track. • License of the practice of muirburn in the uplands. Putting nature at the heart of • Implement the recommendations of tackling climate change the Werrity Grouse Moor Review to We will declare a nature emergency to establish licensing for driven grouse tackle the loss of species in Scotland. shooting. Our national parks take effective action to tackle the climate emergency and support

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 34 biodiversity crisis. They promote mental part of our major new infrastructure and physical health and wellbeing, and programme. boost rural employment. We support development of a new national strategy to • Invest in low-carbon heat networks, designate more national parks, as part of including the potential for connecting a wider network of protected landscapes. whole towns.

We will appoint an Outdoor Recreation • Set a target for all new social housing, Champion within government to help including affordable homes, to be built everyone in Scotland get the benefit of to Passivhaus standards by 2025, and these new national parks. increase building standards to require all new-build residential properties to The electrification of Scotland meet EPC A ratings by 2025, and – and warmer homes Passivhaus standards by 2030.

We will bring forward an Energy Efficiency • Introduce the delayed energy and Zero Carbon Bill to underpin a new efficiency regulations to require zero carbon homes strategy. This will landlords to meet higher energy introduce ambitious targets so we can standards within five years, and make meet our emissions and fuel poverty it easier for people in shared buildings targets. to agree to upgrades and We will declare home insulation a national improvements. strategic priority and set a target to have covered the whole country by 2030, • Review and improve the Community accompanied by a doubling of fuel Wind Benefit Scheme to make it easier poverty budgets and by providing for more communities to receive a incentives for all householders. These share of the profits of wind generation steps have been estimated to create on their doorsteps. 34,000 new jobs in energy efficiency. • Make it easier for people to get We will use the Passivhaus standard information and financial support for which reduces energy usage by three energy-saving by integrating the quarters. Its costs are likely to fall when cluttered landscape of advisers. the standard becomes the norm. We will work to make sure that people in Important elements of the Energy Scotland get the benefit from lower cost Efficiency and Zero Carbon Law will be to: heat pumps to replace fossil fuel boilers as part of the UK Government initiative to Scale up investment in energy • scale up demand, making sure Scottish efficiency and low carbon heating for business is gearing up to be in the supply Scotland’s homes, with an initial five- chain. year programme that will improve 80,000 homes per year. We will work with the UK Government to build resilience in the electricity grid to • Switch a million homes from polluting support more electric power for heat and mains gas to heat pumps by 2030 as transport.

35 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First Planning for greener, cleaner • Set out that the climate emergency communities and Scotland’s 2045 net zero target are material considerations to be We will make changes to the national afforded significant weight in planning planning framework to help us be decisions. effective in tackling the climate and nature emergencies. • Make district heating the normal choice for new developments, and The reforms will also help us to make the support the move away from new gas best recovery from the pandemic. We heating installation. support the appetite for 20-minute- neighbourhoods where people can • Encourage the use of living roofs to access most of the things they need in boost biodiversity and create a new daily life within a short distance of their network of habitats for pollinators, home. provide new green living spaces, We will make it easier for local planning reduce flooding and save energy. authorities to make the changes needed to respond to post-pandemic life. We • Ensure the ownership of common recognise that decisions on repurposing land, infrastructure and play areas on buildings and changing transport new housing estates is with local networks are best tailored to local need, councils, with a thirty year decided locally, not over-ruled nationally, maintenance dowry, to avoid future and require the involvement of local problems of neglect and unfair people and businesses in shaping them. charges for homeowners.

Our intentions for the new national • Make sure there are community planning framework are to: engagement plans in place at the planning stage of major infrastructure Make sure access to green, open • projects to allow local people to have spaces, wildlife corridors and an effective voice. woodland is available to every community. • Preserve parks and playing fields as important community green space. • Protect green belts and gaps between settlements for the long-term benefit • Identify the biggest polluters and work of local communities, the climate and with them to establish transition nature. plans.

• Create a Brownfield First policy, under Changing energy production which planning applicants should to be greener demonstrate that no brownfield land is available for their proposal before The first renewable electricity targets permission can be granted on were set by a Liberal Democrat greenfield sites. environment minister in the first term of the Scottish Parliament.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 36 To help achieve our 2030 climate targets, The economic and we will set a new target for 100% of environmental benefits from a energy generated in Scotland to come from renewables by 2030. circular economy

We will also develop the principle that An estimated 300 million plastic straws, Scottish electricity should be “100% 276 million pieces of plastic cutlery, 50 renewable for 100% of the time” to million plastic plates and 66 million support the development of diverse polystyrene food containers are used generation sources and storage solutions. every year in Scotland.

We will plan for the inevitable end of oil A brilliant way to tackle the climate and gas by getting the transition right, emergency, cut pollution and bring new accepting that decisions taken across the business opportunities to Scotland is by world to tackle the climate emergency will embracing the circular economy. This is cut demand for fossil fuels almost work to minimise the use of natural completely. We will establish a successor resources by the reuse of goods and to the Just Transition Commission, with a materials. membership that includes affected By extending a product’s life through workers and communities, trade unions repair, reuse and repurposing, waste and environmental interests. becomes a commodity, and reduces We will strengthen the duty on public residues sent for disposal. bodies in the Climate Change Act to Research for the UK Government by the require that their contribution towards Waste and Resources Action Programme delivery of emissions reduction targets demonstrates that developing a circular must be in line with Just Transition economy could create over 200,000 new principles and require them to develop jobs in the UK. We will take action to make Just Transition Plans. sure Scotland gets a good share of them. We will make sure Scotland takes forward The proposed deposit return scheme for an ambitious strategy for using hydrogen drinks containers and the coffee cup levy, for diverse energy needs, and ensure we both of which followed successful Scottish are well-placed to get a good share of the Liberal Democrat campaigns, will remove UK Government’s investment flowing plastic and other material from the waste from its own Hydrogen Strategy, not least stream. Our aim is to end the mainstream the research into blending green use of single-use plastics. hydrogen with natural gas and town-sized hydrogen networks. We will introduce a Circular Economy Law including targets that reduce the We will support an increasing number of emissions produced in creating projects developing underground everything we consume, and use other geothermal energy for heating. parts of our programme, to achieve:

• Comprehensive assessment, monitoring and reporting of Scotland’s

37 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First material, land, carbon and water Improving the marine footprints. environment • A duty to produce a Resource The seas and lochs around Scotland Reduction Plan, updated every five contain some of our greatest natural and years. economic treasures.

• Better use by public sector bodies of In common with oceans around the word, circular economy principles in their pollution by plastics threatens all of that. procurement strategies. Our proposals for a circular economy to cut waste and single-use plastics will help • New targets for repurposing, repair begin the process of recovery. and reuse to drive manufacturers towards system change, supported by We will start a Marine Recovery Plan to restore more of our seas, encourage the enterprise agencies for people marine biodiversity and boost eco- wanting to launch relevant businesses tourism businesses alongside traditional in their area. maritime industries. • Ambitious targets for the collection of Designate new marine protected post-consumer textiles, accompanied • areas where this is backed by by the rollout of necessary scientific evidence. infrastructure, and the implementation of measures to • Support research to demonstrate how encourage the fashion industry to Scotland’s marine area acts to capture increase the recycled fibre content in carbon in the seabed and marine fabrics and yarns. ecosystems.

• Commitments from industries We recognise the potential benefits to the including food and drink, agriculture, Scottish economy of a well-managed energy, construction and facilities seaweed cultivation sector and will seek management sectors, along with to establish a sensible structure that major public sector resource avoids over-harvesting. consumers such as the NHS, to adopt circular economy approaches and Effective finance and reduce waste and environmental governance to meet the impact. environmental challenge

• More use of international influence to We will contribute to global action on the establish global standards on product climate emergency, not least by keeping design. Scottish environmental standards We will make sure businesses in Scotland comprehensively high and keeping pace get a good share of the benefit from the with improvements in EU law on the UK Government’s proposed right to repair environment. policy for household goods, which is copied from a similar EU proposal.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 38 We support a fully independent • Develop a system of Universal Environment Standards Scotland to keep Basic Income to provide everyone government on the right track. with a safety net.

We will consult on the establishment of a • Guarantee respite care for unpaid specialist Environmental Court, to provide carers. a speedier, more accessible and cost- effective environmental justice system. Tackling poverty and

We support calls from environmental homelessness stakeholders to develop and promote an Having the right to an adequate home is indicative Nationally Determined one of the basics of life. Safe, secure and Contribution for Scotland, showcasing our good quality housing is the very commitment to climate justice and foundation to ensuring fair and equal highlighting our 75% carbon reduction opportunities for all. target by 2030 to encourage other developed nations to raise their own We will build more homes that people can ambition. afford, with an initial programme for We will press for OFGEM to have 60,000. We will use all the financial tools sustainability as part of its remit. available to government to pay for this, evaluating and learning from the last five Social justice, housing years of pilots and trials to get the most from our investment. Our programme will and communities aim for 40,000 homes for social rent in the next five years. We stand with the weak against the strong and will use the power of We will conduct an urgent review of the government to tackle the social and reasons properties are left vacant, to take economic injustices that limit freedom. the steps needed to bring more of them into use, with the specific aim of The evidence from around the world is increasing the housing supply. that societies and economies are stronger when inequality is reduced. We will create a new Help to Renovate loan scheme to bring neglected Our intentions are to end properties back into use with a particular homelessness, child poverty and fuel focus on helping first-time buyers onto poverty. the housing ladder and achieving low emission properties. • Double the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week to tackle child To help deliver more suitable land for poverty. housing we will take forward the recommendation of the Scottish Land • Build 60,000 affordable homes to Commission to force the sale of derelict help address homelessness. sites that blight communities. • New Help to Renovate loans to We will conduct an assessment of publicly bring derelict homes back into use. owned brownfield land and consult on a

39 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First mechanism for selling such land on a the light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, plot-by-plot basis direct to communities with government support for remediation for self-building. in line with the recent expert working group recommendations. We will make it much simpler, through permitted development rights, for urban We will end fuel poverty, establishing derelict land and rural farm buildings to catch-up zones for communities furthest be used for zero emission homes. behind and investing substantially in energy-saving measures, creating We will seek to end homelessness by thousands of green jobs, and helping taking forward the Housing First and meet our ambitions on child poverty. Rapid Rehousing principles, providing both housing and other support services The current government’s plan still leaves to individuals in need. We will address the 5 percent of Scottish households in fuel additional challenges for young homeless poverty in 2040. This is unacceptable and people with special pathways to link we will prepare a new Scottish social suitable jobs and training to housing. security benefit to tackle fuel poverty in those properties where government We will bring forward new legislation action will not be able to make the which would strengthen the duties on difference needed. public bodies to prevent homelessness. A safety net for everyone We will give adequate powers to local authorities to manage the numbers of We support action to make respect for second homes in their area where there human rights and dignity the cornerstone is evidence of problems. of UK and Scottish social security.

We will introduce proportionate short- We commit to work together with other term let licensing to sustain communities parties to help realise these principles for and provide support to local authorities people living in Scotland. who are struggling to provide the permanent homes people need. We will double the Scottish Child Payment and support other measures, such as free We will establish a Scottish Standard for school meals, as part of a programme to Housing to apply across all forms of end child poverty, with the intention to tenure, to include zero emission heat, meet the targets unanimously agreed by energy performance, lifetime accessibility Parliament. and a minimum of gigabit-ready broadband. Such a clear standard will We will continue to call on the UK allow the construction industry to both Government to make permanent the £20 contribute to and benefit from a green uplift in Universal Credit introduced recovery. during the pandemic to address child poverty. We will offer free safety assessments to homeowners whose flats have external We will consider top-up social security cladding to determine which properties payments, similar to the child payment, have material needing to be removed in for families with one or more disabled

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 40 parent or disabled child, to make a bigger deserve our support but are far too often impact on child poverty. forgotten and ignored.

We will start new campaigns to ensure Unpaid carers provide love and support everyone who should be in receipt of the to thousands of people across the new Scottish Disability Payments, country. They often sacrifice their own Children’s Disability Living Allowance, wellbeing and financial security to meet Personal Independence Payment or the needs of the people they care for. Attendance Allowance is getting it. We support an enhanced Carers We will remove the requirement for Allowance in Scotland and are reassessment for social security campaigning for a UK-wide uplift of entitlements where conditions are £1,000 per year to recognise the value of irreversible, and use better assessment carers. We will make it easier financially criteria for people with fluctuating for carers to access education and conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis. training.

We will work with the UK Government to We will recognise unpaid carers with develop a system of universal basic guaranteed respite support for them, and income that can give everybody a safety give support for those who want to net in the 21st century. Such a system continue in employment. would have protected us all at the start of We will give carers the right to flexible lockdown. working hours where it is in our power to We will review the Scottish social security grant this so they can balance system to meet our aims on human employment and caring responsibilities. rights, and take care not to jeopardise We will work with local government to payments to people in need as we bring introduce a package of carer benefits control of new benefits to Holyrood by including free leisure centre access and 2024. The present SNP government self-referral to socially prescribed delayed the transfer of responsibility activities and courses. because of the complexity involved, yet still proposes to put them at risk again by We will also extend the support and an independence campaign. financial assistance available to carers following a bereavement that means their We will continue to press for justice for caring role comes to an end, recognising WASPI women from the UK Government the need to both grieve and adjust. and will consider a new Scottish benefit to close the gap in cases of hardship. We will provide information and support to carers following the end of their caring Supporting carers role. This will include a new fund to People who care for others – whether support training and education for carers paid or unpaid, young or old – do a returning to work after caring. We will remarkable and important job. They extend eligibility for financial support for up to six months after a person’s caring role comes to an end.

41 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will engage carers and service users in better grasp of their local needs in the an update of the 2016 Carers Act in order face of the crisis. to improve it in the light of lessons from Power is safer when it is shared rather the pandemic. than hoarded at the centre. We will Help with the cost of living give more local control over local taxation, economic development, The pandemic hit many family budgets education, the police, transport hard, with lost earnings and lost planning and health services. employment. As the global economy We will seek to work at a UK level to expands it may bring with it the threat of reform the UK to a federal future. We will inflation. We will do what we can to help give all four administrations a say over the people address the cost of living. direction of the whole UK and make sure We will work with the Association of the Scottish Parliament cannot be British Insurers to reduce premiums in overruled on the say-so of the UK Scotland by sharing information on flood Government and has influence over UK risk and developing a new claims portal, wide decision-making. like that in England and Wales, to cut the This will be better than umpteen years of cost of motor insurance claims by strife and turmoil with an independence avoiding litigation. campaign.

We will cut costs for parents with our comprehensive offer on childcare and • Work at a UK level to reform the early education. UK to a federal future.

We will save money for homebuyers by • A new fiscal framework to ensure helping more properties achieve the local councils get a fair share of the highest energy efficiency ratings and budget. become eligible for a lower mortgage rate • Keep pace with EU policy to keep from some high street lenders. the option to rejoin the EU in the Our plans to replace the unfair council tax future. will explore if the new system can include • A new Contempt of Parliament a valuation process in common with rule, so a minority government business rates to make it more efficient can’t ignore Holyrood. and cut costs for taxpayers. • New steps to listen and act on the Democracy advice of service users and public sector workers.

The SNP have centralised the life out Reform of the UK of Scotland. The pandemic has exposed the short-sightedness of that We will seek to work at a UK level to policy. Restrictions have meant people reform the UK to a federal future. can’t travel for centralised services. Local communities have often shown a

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 42 The recent Internal Markets Act showed • Change the voting system for the in clear terms the limits of a system that Scottish Parliament to single does not involve the four administrations transferable vote. jointly in making decisions which cut across their responsibilities on matters • Support a new rule of Contempt of such as food, building and environmental Parliament, so a minority government safety. Our plans for the UK will: can’t rule as though it had a majority, and that Parliament - not ministers - • Recognise that the Government of the has the final say. UK must enjoy the support of the majority of those who vote in each UK • Work with other parties to further a General Election. culture of respect inside Holyrood, including improving induction for staff, • Create a United Kingdom Council of and use the experience of remote Ministers, to bring together the working in the pandemic to make it a governments of Scotland, Wales and more flexible and family-friendly Northern Ireland together with workplace, to allow a wider range of regional leaders across England. people to consider standing for election. • Pass legislation in which Westminster renounces the ability to unilaterally • Continue to call for the introduction of change the powers of the devolved a recall system for elected parliaments across the UK or to pass representatives. laws in their areas of responsibility. • Progress the work of the Independent • Establish a United Kingdom Review of Safeguarding in Politics, Constitutional Convention to bring secured by Scottish Liberal together political parties, Democrats, to introduce robust new parliamentarians, local government procedures to protect children and and civic society to address the vulnerable adults so politics catches alienation that exists and finalise and up with the progress made in other confirm the move to a federal union. professions.

Reforming the Scottish • Give organisations that receive Parliament funding from the Scottish Government a new ‘license to criticise’, To improve the operation of Scottish giving them a stronger voice and politics, make it work better for people, recognising through a new legal and address emerging problems in the guarantee that the services we rely on balance between the elected parliament are worse off if organisations are and the government, we will: concerned that speaking out will have implications for their future funding • Return to the system of four-year and survival. parliamentary terms.

43 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First We will develop a fiscal framework with • Strengthen and expand the public’s local government that recognises the right to information, ensuring people important work that local councils do, the can scrutinise their government and freedoms they need to innovate and hold organisations to account, serve their communities, and their need applying Freedom of Information rules for a fair share of Scottish Government to companies which provide resources. government services. We will give back to councils the powers • Introduce a new ‘duty to record’ so to set local domestic and business that the public can access accounts of taxation, and remove the financial important ministerial meetings and penalties used by the present decision-making processes. government to exert control. This will give • Strengthen the role of the Public Audit local councils control of more than half of Committee so that it can scrutinise their revenues and give them a real stake business grants of more than in economic progress. £250,000 before they are paid to We will give a full power of general satisfy themselves that the recipient competence to local authorities to allow company pays a fair level of UK tax, them to meet the needs of the people and also save us from the they serve. embarrassment of ministers signing agreements with dubious companies. We recognise that local communities did a power of work during the crisis to After the failures exposed by the identify and support those people in need Salmond-Sturgeon inquiry into in their areas. So we will offer local harassment of women we will establish a communities the opportunity to establish new confidential complaints process a burgh or island council to serve their within the civil service, with a strong area, established by a charter defining its external element, to give confidence to functions, to give a truly local democratic those wishing to make a complaint focus to services. We will listen to the against ministers. experiences of communities during the Stronger local government pandemic, and give them the chance to empower themselves more formally. Good decisions about local services are best made locally, with democratic local Listening to people authorities given the power to act in the People have a right to participate in their best interests of the communities they democracy. serve. Local government in Scotland has suffered from centralisation and loss of We will engage with public sector workers control. to take their advice on improving services, using their frontline experience during We will strengthen local governance in the pandemic. partnership with local councils, recognising that reform has stalled under the current government.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 44 We will listen and act on the lived The spending review, in particular, will experiences of disabled people and align the capital programme with our health services users in planning the climate change priorities, not least ending recovery from the pandemic. fuel poverty.

We will ask all of Scotland’s representative We will adopt and extend the current groups for disabled people to come principles of fair work, equal pay for equal together to steer reforms that make sure work regardless of age, prudent the mistakes of the pandemic – where borrowing, competitive tax systems, disabled people were neglected – are not continual efficiency within government, repeated and their lived experience and we accept the Infrastructure guides a fairer recovery. Commission’s recommendations for a greater emphasis on the good We will ask all the expert health groups to maintenance of public assets. take part in a major inquiry by the Scottish Parliament to steer a path to Our programme for government will tackle health and illness issues raised by include a pipeline of projects ready to be them before and during the pandemic. started as the pandemic eases and more money becomes available for the We will give volunteering organisations recovery. We do not want a lack of the flexibility and certainty they need with preparations to leave gaps in the longer term funding agreements. programme. Some of our programme may overhang the end of the We have championed the concept of parliamentary term. citizens’ assemblies. We want groups of citizens to be able to look in depth at We will seek to work with the UK issues, study the evidence and make Government so that its Shared Prosperity recommendations. We will take forward spending programme is efficient and the work of Scotland’s Climate Assembly complements rather than competes with and the Citizens’ Assembly, decoupling its Scottish Government investment. work from the current government’s drive towards a divisive referendum campaign. We will institute a system of more robust scrutiny of the Budget prior to autumn We will give young people a bigger role in and spring revisions to bear down on shaping policies affecting them through emerging underspends and use the Youth Parliament. taxpayers’ money to full effect, rather than see hundreds of millions remain Managing the public unused. finances to meet our We will learn the lessons of the impact of ambitions the pandemic to guide reforms to the fiscal framework between the UK and Scottish governments, so that Scotland We will initiate a full spending review benefits appropriately from decisions at the conclusion of the pandemic made on matters within the responsibility period to guide the recovery in public of the Scottish Parliament, while services and the economy.

45 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First remaining protected by framework of elsewhere in the world, which does not support from the UK Government at penalise homeowners for improving their times of crisis. We remain disappointed properties. The Independent Review of that Scottish ministers never complied Local Taxation said there is merit in that with the parliamentary vote to publish an system and encouraged further work. The estimate of the amount of UK Scottish Land Commission has carried out Government support paid directly to some further studies and these should be individuals and businesses during the part of the cross-party work to scrap the pandemic, and regret the loss of council tax. transparency as a result. Business rates reform We do not favour continued use of public- private partnership funding, preferring to We will reform business rates to take the move to capital investment programmes burden off high street retailers, who are funded by direct borrowing, with unfairly hampered compared to purely democratically accountable management online retailers who have lower premises and ongoing maintenance, rather than costs. rely on expensive and inflexible PPP and We support a land value element for this PFI contracts. new tax to avoid penalising businesses We will support the refocusing of public which improve their properties, install pension funds towards sustainable renewables or made their customers investments and report on progress. safer from the virus. A study elsewhere in the UK concluded We do not propose substantial changes that a switch to such a system would cut to the rates and bands of Scottish income bills for most properties on local high tax, but will continue to maintain a stable streets. This will help high streets develop system, with appropriate and affordable into community hubs, with a good indexation of the thresholds. shopping and social experience, and allow Council Tax reform – maybe them to compete with online. The new this time system would raise more from under- used sites and land “banked” by The Scottish Government has promised developers. It will also help remote and to scrap the unfair council tax for the last rural areas grow into vibrant 14 years. We will restart the cross-party communities. process to replace the council tax that We will review the rates relief system to has been left dangling by the SNP. give more support to shops on local high We will explore if the new system can streets which have low turnover but a include a valuation process in common high rateable value. with business rates to make it more We will give local authorities control of the efficient and cut costs for taxpayers. level of tax and reliefs in their area to We want reform. We have proposed a foster new partnerships between councils switch to a land value system, used and local business.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 46 prevent violence against women Liberty, liberalism and girls in all its forms. and our place in the • Stop future emergency legislation world removing fundamental rights from disabled people.

We live in a gloriously diverse world. • End the harmful practice of sexual We are all stronger because of it. All orientation and gender identity the evidence is that societies and conversion therapy. economies are stronger when every person can contribute. That means • New pay audits to ensure fair stopping the discrimination that rules opportunities for people from many people out of living their lives to ethnic minorities and disabled the full. people.

Scotland needs to benefit from the • Incorporate four United Nations diverse talents of everyone to increase human rights treaties into Scots wellbeing and productivity. That means law. there should be opportunity for everyone whatever their background, rich or poor, • Support a close relationship with and regardless of gender, sexuality, race, our European neighbours. religion, disability or other aspects of what Human rights and equalities we look like or where we come from. As we put recovery first we will put human Liberal Democrats will always be robust in rights first. We will bring international public support for the rights and safety of human rights standards into Scottish law marginalised groups. wherever we can. We will ask The pandemic limited our freedoms and representatives from different equality opportunities. Some groups of people groups to help shape public services to were affected particularly badly. Young learn from the mistakes made in the people lost out on education and the pandemic. chance to start their careers. The Too often people face violence, economic sectors hardest hit were often discrimination, bullying and abuse those where the majority of employees because of who they are. are women and young people. Disabled people saw many of their rights Violence and abuse has left women and suspended by the emergency legislation. girls across the world less able to lead People from ethnic minorities were often their lives to the full. working in essential jobs in the face of the pandemic and suffered higher mortality Disabled people have been badly treated. rates from the very start. The pandemic restrictions reinforced the isolation experienced by many. Disabled

• Establish a cross-party commission people are often subject to violence, to recommend urgent steps to discrimination and abuse just for being who they are.

47 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First Homophobia and transphobia continue Inclusive Education Working Group to be real problems for too people. and update guidance to schools.

The Black Lives Matter movement was • Commit to the principle that future born in tragic circumstances and emergency legislation must not delivered a powerful message on the remove fundamental rights from need for change. Our urgent intention is disabled people. to make sure that people from ethnic minority backgrounds live their lives free • Design education that is inclusive for from discrimination, abuse and violence all, and give each disabled child and so that they can achieve their individual disabled young person appropriate potential. support in the transition to adulthood.

Research by Scottish Liberal Democrats • Act on the recommendations of the has revealed that there are thousands of EHRC inquiry into the treatment of racist incidents recorded in schools in ethnic minority workers during the Scotland every year. coronavirus pandemic and the Scottish Government Expert Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Reference Group on COVID-19 and sectarianism cause harm and fear every Ethnicity. day. We will incorporate four United Nations It is important we act. We will: human rights treaties into Scots law: the International Covenant on Economic, • Establish a cross-party commission to Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention recommend urgent steps to prevent on the Elimination of All Forms of violence against women and girls in all Discrimination against Women; the its forms. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; and the • Take forward as a priority the Convention on the Rights of Persons with recommendations from Dame Helena Disabilities. We will strengthen existing Kennedy’s working group on human rights commitments, including misogyny. bringing the age of criminal responsibility • Take forward the findings and into line with United Nations recommendations of the Morrow recommendations. reports on tackling sectarianism. The mark of a strong society is where people can rise to the level of their • End the harmful practice of sexual potential and establish rewarding careers orientation and gender identity on equal terms. That is not the situation conversion therapy in the next in Scotland today where many groups of parliamentary session, working with people do not get the chance to succeed. the UK Government where necessary. Research by Scottish Liberal Democrats • Fully implement the has shown that people from ethnic recommendations of the LGBTI minority backgrounds in Scotland are still

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 48 massively underrepresented in senior people in the design of employability positions in education, police and the support schemes. judiciary. Our proposals on employment are intended to close the gender pay gap, • Put in place specialist employability which is still estimated at 10 percent in programmes to enable more people Scotland, and we will monitor progress. with visual impairment to find work, including through new apprenticeship We will implement The Promise from schemes for blind and partially Scotland’s Independent Care Review so sighted people. that care-experienced young people and adults get the support they need. • Give every child or young person with a disability or long-term health We will: condition the right to a transitions plan to help with their move from • Carry out pay audits of government, child to adult services. local government and agencies to provide evidence on unfair • Uphold the human rights of learning- disadvantage experienced by ethnic disabled children with new statutory minority and disabled employees. guidance to eliminate the unnecessary use of restraint and • Set a target of a 50:50 male to female seclusion in schools and children's split for apprenticeships, with plans to services, supported by a achieve progress year on year, comprehensive training plan for particularly in high paid sectors such families and education staff. as engineering. • Consider the case for a commissioner • Create an occupational segregation to protect the rights of autistic people commission to drive public bodies’ and people with learning difficulties. actions to tackle the occupational We will decriminalise sex work in line with segregation which limits opportunities best international practice and the risks for women and men in different to those involved, and include stronger workplaces. action to tackle people-trafficking. • Support the employer accreditation programme Equally Safe at Work. A voice for everyone

Part of our hopes for a human rights • Work with employers to encourage approach to government is to listen and them to adopt flexible working engage with people’s lived experience to arrangements which address the help shape the future. We will: barriers to employment faced by disabled people. • Give organisations led by disabled • Make disabled people a priority group people and advocating on their behalf for access to the young person’s job the opportunity to shape the recovery guarantee, and include disabled from the pandemic, to avoid the mistakes of the past and give them a

49 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First stronger place in the future of Freedom to achieve your goals Scotland. A full life in a liberal society is more than • Give the Scottish Youth Parliament a just personal safety and the opportunity greater role in shaping and reviewing to work. It needs the chance to be public services used by young people. creative, to thrive and to enjoy life.

• Ensure that all NHS healthcare We will take further steps to give people professionals can meet the needs of better chances to achieve their goals in their LGBTI patients by incorporating life in diverse ways: training that addresses barriers faced due to both sexual orientation and • Open the Independent Living Fund gender identity. Scotland to new claims.

• Commit to funding mandatory training • Establish a National Low Vision Plan, for mental health professionals, modelled on the Welsh Low Vision including front line CAMHS staff, on Service, to enable more consistent supporting LGBTI people, and ensure service provision across Scotland. mental health and suicide prevention Support NHS Lothian to reprovision training delivered to NHS staff is • the eye pavilion in Edinburgh to inclusive. provide high quality services. • Ensure that LGBTI people can access Remove the requirement for welcoming and inclusive social care • reassessment for social security services, by providing targeted entitlement where conditions are training for staff with a focus on those irreversible. working in residential care settings.

Create an accessibility standard • Support the creation of an empire and • ensuring all government documents slavery museum to tell the true story and communications are available in of Scotland's history. alternative formats, – including braille, • Support greater diversity in public art large-print and audio. so that it better reflects who we are. • Implement the pavement parking ban, • Update guardianship and adults with legislated for by the Transport incapacity legislation so that the focus (Scotland) Act 2019, by the end of is on increasing empowerment and 2021. supported decision making. • Ensure that NHS reproductive health • Enable people to exercise their rights and fertility services recognise, and whatever the challenge and wherever address, barriers and health they live through consistent and inequalities faced by LGBTI people, funded provision of advocacy services, particularly by lesbian and bisexual securely funded legal aid, mediation women. and arbitration.

Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First | 50 As more and more data and biometric • Improve laws on gender recognition in information is available on every citizen, line with international best practice to we will develop the approach taken in allow trans people to change the legal Estonia where data is considered to gender on their birth certificate with a belong to the citizen and where people simple process based on the principle have the right to know who has accessed of self-determination, and without their information. We will take steps to intrusive medical diagnosis safeguard people from misuse of their requirements, and include the data, CCTV images, facial recognition or recognition of non-binary people. This biometric information. de-medicalised system to change legal gender will better support trans We will treat people who are refugees or people to live their lives free from asylum seekers with compassion, uphold

discrimination. their human rights and support them as far as we can to play a full part in the life • Increase investment in activities of their communities, including steps to suitable for older people or disabled stop them being evicted from their people, such as health walks, new temporary housing. sporting opportunities or riding groups, helping to reduce social We support a right to work for asylum isolation and loneliness. seekers, helping to avoid impoverishment, providing dignity and allowing them to Champion the contribution of older • contribute to the economy, and will people to volunteering, community campaign for this. work, education and culture. Our place in the world • Review public authorities’ implementation of the Fairer Scotland People who live and work in Scotland Duty guidance during the next have much that we can contribute to a Parliament. Examine whether the duty better world. Our combined actions on can be extended to cover more of the the climate emergency will help ourselves barriers people face. as well as people on the other side of the We will also aim to fully incorporate the planet who will be among the first to be Right to a Healthy and Safe Environment harmed by the devastation of climate into Scots Law in line with the UN change. framework principles, and the Aarhus We can use our freedoms to speak out in Convention. support of people elsewhere who are We will bring forward legislation to persecuted and oppressed. enshrine wellbeing and sustainable The choices we make can help make development, and make it a statutory trade across the world fairer and bring requirement for public bodies to take full prosperity to fellow citizens of the world. account of the sustainable development impact of their decisions to help achieve • Continue to develop and deepen the global sustainable development goals. relationships between Scotland and

51 | Scottish Liberal Democrats – Put Recovery First Malawi at governmental, community, educational and environmental levels.

• Continue to keep the climate emergency as a central objective of our international work.

• Put a stronger human rights protocol in place to govern our relationships with other countries.

Scotland has an important place in promoting global issues such as human rights, migration and refugees, public health and the climate emergency.

To develop public policy on these issues, and to give a voice to our academic centres of excellence, we will support the establishment of a Scottish Council for Global Affairs, as an independent, non- partisan centre of expertise on international affairs.

We are the most pro-European of parties. We have been resolute in our opposition to Brexit because the EU is good for trade for businesses, for free movement and good for our way of life. So, we deeply regret what has happened.

Over the last year we’ve had the most traumatic of times with the worst pandemic for a hundred years. Thousands of people have sadly lost their lives. Thousands more have lost their jobs. We owe it to those people to put recovery from the pandemic first.

What we should not do is repeat the mistakes of Brexit with independence. We know that breaking up long term economic partnerships is a very difficult and damaging thing to do.

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